There is a meme circling online asking whether you’re an Emily Brontë or a Charlotte Brontë person. Every thirteen-year-old girl must decide, according to the post, with the implication that the way you answer that question at thirteen will determine the rest of your life. I was a Charlotte person, unambiguously. Charlotte’s world made sense to me in the way I needed the world to make sense at that age, offering self-respect, moral clarity, and—most importantly for my teenage self—a love story that felt earned. Jane Eyre taught me that suffering could be metabolized into dignity, that integrity was its own reward. I found Emily’s novel disturbing in a way I couldn’t quite name and kept my distance from it for years. Decades, really.Emerald Fennell’s new film adaptation has brought Wuthering Heights back into the conversation, and I suspect a lot of people are returning to Emily Brontë right now, or encountering her for the first time. Before you see it—or alongside it, or instead of it, depending on your disposition—I’d recommend picking up Karen Powell’s 2023 novel Fifteen Wild Decembers. It is the best preparation I know for that encounter, because far from softening Emily’s brutal vision or making Wuthering Heights more palatable, it offers something I didn’t have as a young reader: the context of what Emily Brontë was actually writing about, and why.Powell’s novel is narrated in Emily’s voice, and centers her role as primary caretaker for her brother Branwell during the years she was writing Wuthering Heights. Branwell Brontë—once the family’s great hope, the son on whom all expectations rested—spent those years in a spiral of alcohol and laudanum addiction, humiliated by a failed love affair with a married employer, cycling through rages and remorse, through binges and vows of sobriety that lasted until they didn’t. He died in September 1848, just months after Emily’s novel was published. She followed him that December.What Powell renders so precisely is the dailiness of that care. Emily hauling Branwell home from drinking, supporting what she drily describes as “two grown men up the stairs, one half-blind, the other incapable”—her father, whose eyesight was failing, and her brother, who could barely stand. Emily scrubbing a soiled rug in the back kitchen the morning after, while Charlotte’s voice comes at her “sour as an underripe plum,” asking why she can’t make Branwell clean up after himself. The landlord at the inn, looking doubtfully at Emily as Branwell is shouldered to the door, shirt half-untucked, one sleeve of his coat hanging empty: You’ll manage? And Emily managing, as she always does, turning him in the right direction and tacking their way home.These scenes are not dramatic in any conventional sense. They are repetitive by design, because that is what this kind of caregiving actually is—the same crisis with minor variations, the same hope extinguished in roughly the same way, the same morning after. Powell understands that the accumulation of these moments is itself a form of knowledge, and that Emily was accumulating it in real time while writing one of the strangest novels in the English language. (Ellen O'Connell Whittet)
The writer who changed my mindDuring the long summer between GCSEs and A-levels, reading felt, for the first time, like work. I trudged through Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, resenting the densely worded pages and Jane’s interminable stay at Lowood. But in class, when we began to analyse it chapter by chapter, it came alive for me. I think that was the year I started to notice the craftsmanship in how something was written.
This year’s spring play is doing more than just retelling a story.In Bearden’s production of Jane Eyre, Jane is followed from early childhood to late adolescence. Bearden theatre will portray this development through the use of two actors. This play showcases a unique collaboration between Jane as a child and Jane as she ages into adulthood to seamlessly portray one character across different points in time.Junior McKenna Webb (young Jane) and senior Caroline Alley (young adult Jane) have taken on the roles of the same character at different times in life, mainly focusing on matching each other’s mannerisms and personalities to create a smooth transition after the shift in age.“I just kind of watch what Caroline does and see how she moves in her facial expressions and what I can do to enhance that even more because young Jane is just a more vibrant version of older Jane,” Webb said.Webb describes young Jane as relentless, shaped by the hardships during her childhood and school highlighting the character’s emotional intensity and raw honesty.Alley uses this to build on to the foundation of young Jane with a more controlled and reflective version of the character.“She still speaks her mind, but more respectfully,” Alley said.This shift in mannerisms reflects Jane’s growth and maturation, especially after learning about forgiveness and restraint from formative role models in her life.Despite the differences between the two versions of this character, both Webb and Alley worked to maintain a clear connection between the portrayals of Jane. This was accomplished by studying shared traits such as intelligence, isolation, and emotional depth that remains consistent between them throughout the play.Director Ms. Katie Alley underscores the importance of their connection and partnership to the storytelling of the production.“They will want to have some similar mannerisms and make sure their dialect is similar,” she said.Through the careful work and observation of Jane and her journey, Webb and Alley are able to create a unified character and performance throughout the play. This collaboration between the two actresses highlights both their individual talents while also using their strong teamwork skills in bringing this complex character to life. (Kaelyn Martinez)
But the Yorkshire described in The Secret Garden, [biographer Ann Thwaite] says, is "the Yorkshire of her imagination and the Yorkshire inspired by the Brontës"."Frances Hodgson Burnett had certainly read both Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights and indeed probably all the Brontë novels," she says. (Seb Cheer)
And now there is a 3,000-word version of it. Three. Thousand. Words. Published by Infobae's own books platform, Leamos (Cumbres borrascosas en tres mil palabras, available for free on their Bajalibros app) — and then covered by Infobae Cultura as though it were good news, which is a remarkable thing to do to yourself. The argument being made, apparently with a straight face, is that abridgements serve as a "gateway" to the original — that readers who consume the condensed version might one day pick up the real thing. This is the literary equivalent of saying a postcard (in very low resolution) of the Yorkshire moors is a gateway to actually going outside.
In an exclusive sketch for Comic Relief: Funny for Money, Katherine Ryan and Jon Richardson are set to embody Cathy and Heathcliff in an unmissable Wuthering Heights sketch this Red Nose Day.Have you ever wondered who else may have auditioned for the leading roles in smash-hit film Wuthering Heights? Or rather, why Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi ended up in the role? Fret no more, as this Red Nose Day we are set to get a sneak peek at the exclusive audition tapes as Katherine Ryan takes on the role of Cathy, and Jon Richardson gives it his best Heathcliff, in ‘Withering Heights’.Comic Relief: Funny for Money is live from MediaCityUK in Salford on BBC iPlayer and BBC One on Friday 20 March from 7pm, and for the very first time, live streamed simultaneously on the official BBC YouTube channel.The money raised this Red Nose Day could help people access food, shelter and safety – the vital essentials everyone needs to survive.
The reduction of the novel to a story of toxic love means that people who haven’t read the book will come away from this film with a completely different view of the story. Although the unsettling atmosphere might still be present, the characters seem completely different (Elordi’s Heathcliff would never have dug up Cathy’s corpse).All this being said, I did still cry at the end when (spoiler alert) Cathy dies.There are some good costume choices. Heathcliff’s outfit upon his long-awaited return is my favourite, and doesn’t seem out of place, unlike some of the music choices. I think I could have recovered from my disappointment about Kate Bush’s song ‘Wuthering Heights’ not appearing in the film if it still felt like Fennell had kept the core of the novel intact. But I suppose Charli XCX will have to suffice… (Abbie Fox)
Despite being over two hours, Fennel managed to capture my attention throughout the whole film. There wasn’t a single moment where I wasn’t anxious to see what happened next, whether that be because I was nervous or excited for what was to come. On top of that, the cinematography, set and costumes were insane.I had been warned about the ending being tragic. And it was. Looking back on it, I should’ve seen it coming, but it still left me in shambles. I was a crying wreck. But, it also made me see the true reality of a relationship and that not all love stories have happy endings. (Sutton Bulkeley)
MR: Can we talk about Isabella? Obviously, your character in Wuthering Heights, and she is my favourite thing ever. You’re so funny in the movie. Your physicality for Isabella is so distinctive and perfect and hilarious. People are going to lose their minds when they see you. I’m so excited for this moment. I remember seeing you find that character and I saw how rigorous you are in your preparation. Your notebook that you would check in between takes with tons and tons of writing in it. I’m curious – what was your process for Isabella, and then what’s your process in general?AO: Isabella felt very clear to me. Emerald’s writing is so amazing, that character just jumps out at you when you read her. In our version, she’s a ward, and she’s actually lived in India until she was around eight, and then was sort of orphaned, taken in by the Lintons, and moved to England. Mary from The Secret Garden was actually a really big reference for the character, because she had that same beginning. But for Isabella, she’s obviously been so sort of, infantilised by Edgar and kept in this child state. I was just really curious about characters that have a kind of peculiarity to them. I remember Polly [Bennett, movement director] said something to me which was really interesting. We talked a lot about that era and how much is repressed, how much is not allowed, and how you’re almost trained and bred into being a good little girl. Then when anything repressed is let out, it’s really messy and unorganised. With Isabella, there’s so much in her, but she has to lock so much of it away – she’s like, reverberating. Desperately wanting to kiss someone – or strangle someone.MR: She’s practically vibrating. I’m so bummed the scene didn’t make the cut where Isabella’s saying her prayers before bed, but then pulls out this 18th-century porn. [both laugh] And that book, which, by the way, is a real book, is crazy.AO: It’s actually horrific.MR: The images in it. When people are like, “I’m so worried about the youth of today, because what they’re seeing online is giving them an extreme idea of sex,” honestly, looking at this book, I was like, what on earth did people back then think sex was? The illustrations in this 18th-century porn book – essentially a porno – honestly, it was like Cirque du Soleil. [laughs]AO: It was completely awful. But that’s the repressed thing: if it’s all so shameful, then when you let it out, it’s this fucking weird thing. That’s sort of Isabella. I loved playing her so much.MR: Do you think she’s the funniest character you’ve played?AO: Yes. Emerald is also so great; she really lets you push things or let go. It’s such a freeing thing when the person you’re working with is really encouraging you to find that. I think there are loads of different ways of interpreting that character, and the way Emerald interpreted her was so exciting to me. What’s interesting about Isabella and Cathy is that Isabella is the reverse of Cathy. It’s like there’s an uncorseting of Isabella that happens. But in that uncorseting, she’s actually free. Whereas in reverse, you are coming from something wild and passionate and crazy, and then it all sort of gets cleaned up. But that’s actually not the answer. It’s an interesting study of that time for women: the options available, or the life available to you, was so limited. I don’t know if you found this, but when I was in the Wuthering Heights house, I was like, “I feel so free.” As beautiful as Thrushcross Grange is, it’s quite contained.MR: I had the opposite. It’s actually when we were outside on location that I felt the most free. Wuthering Heights for Cathy, I think, is oppressing and dirty. Then she gets to Thrushcross Grange, and it’s so beautiful and clean. But then, like you said, there’s something stagnant about it. It’s kind of frozen, and that’s unnerving as well – but in a new version of oppression that takes her a while to realise is being inflicted. I just loved when we were on location – the landscape is so incredible, wild, harsh, and magical. And then on top of that, our personal experiences: we all got to hang out at the pub every day. [laughs] The best thing was that you guys were only actually needed for a couple of days out there…AO: Two scenes, but we were there for the week.MR: More than a week. You came and stayed out there just to hang. [both laugh] It was so fun. Every day I’d be messaging you guys, because everyone would be at the pub, and I’d be like, “Oh, I’ve still got another scene to go.” Then on our group thread, you guys are like, “Look at this waterfall we found,” or, “Look at this walk we went on, and we found a new pub we should try.” Jacob and I would just be like, “Shit. We gotta wrap this scene up so we can get to everything!” [both laugh]AO: That was so much fun. I was thinking the other day about when we shot all of those montage pieces, and how much fun that was, and so crazy. At the end of big days where we’d done big dinner scenes or where loads of people were in, they’d be like, “OK, we’re going to do the picnic!” or “OK, we’re going to do Christmas!” It was just like, it’s Christmas now.MR: And we’d always have fifteen minutes or something – it was mayhem. But the thing about Emerald is she uses every single bit of footage that she films; it all ends up being in the movie. There are even shots from the camera test that ended up in the movie. Cathy wandering in the courtyard – that was just a camera test shot. She uses every single scrap of film. Having said that, some scenes can’t make it, like Isabella praying and then pulling out the porno. Also that amazing scene where we do the walk around the library. Isabella’s so funny in that scene too, asking Heathcliff if he’s a man of science and pretending that she doesn’t care about that stuff as well. I loved that so much.AO: Emerald’s ability to create on the spot is amazing.MR: She’s both an insane preparer and an amazing improviser, actually – a lot like you, because you seem to be an insane preparer, and then also you can completely improvise. It’s so fun to be able to play at both ends of the spectrum.AO: I sometimes feel like I can only do improvisational stuff if I’ve prepared in an insane way. Maybe it’s a confidence thing, and I feel like I have to have done my homework before I can let go like that.MR: I feel like we are similar in that way – we approach things similarly. I have to do so much prep and so much work so that I can walk on set and throw it all away.AO: Because you work so fucking hard. I’ll never forget seeing I, Tonya and finding out that was you. I was like, “What the actual hell?!” And when we were making Wuthering Heights, seeing you stepping in, giving the most incredible performance, then stepping out and being like a producer, getting on a Zoom call, then coming back in, doing another take – I was like, “How in the living hell are you doing this?” It’s mind-blowing to me. How have you found having those different hats on set?MR: Honestly, I feel like I thrive on the multitasking nature of it. I don’t have a problem compartmentalising. I can sit in the edit on a film that I’m in and have no issue separating myself from the character on screen. And then [it’s also] loving the thrill of doing so many exciting things all at the same time. I feel like you have that too, because when you’re acting, you’re very aware of everything happening around you. You can feel if you’re moving out of your light or if someone’s blocking your light. I see you adjust, I see that you are conscious of where the crew members are, and you’re adapting your performance so that it works within the context of what everyone else is doing. So much of brilliant acting is lost because if you can’t be conscious of all the things happening around you, it’s not going to work in the edit, it’s not going to work on screen. Whereas you’re one of those actors who makes it work so that it’s going to end up being in the movie. And in order to do that, you have to be conscious. And in order to be conscious of everything else, you do have to be able to compartmentalise so many things. You have to be like, “I’m taking note of that – the camera, the lens, the light, what this actor is doing, how much time we have.”AO: I’m actually not just saying this, I swear to god, I learned so much from you. I’ll never forget the day where, you know, that long scene you had…MR: The hair-pull scene?AO: Yes. You have a million things going on in that scene. There were so many different elements. And I remember you were sat on the couch, and people were coming over going, “OK, can you make sure you sit like this? Can you not put your hair that way? Also the camera’s going to be coming in here, so you need to do that.” And you were like, “Yeah, no problem.” Then I was watching the scene, and I was like, “You did all of it.” I’m really not just saying this, but I actually feel like that was something I was so conscious of when I was making the movie – watching how you did that. I was really trying to learn from it. (Ella Joyce)
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By Jamie BarloweRoutledgeISBN 9781032539898Silent Film Adaptations of Novels by British and American Women Writers, 1903–1929 focuses on fifty-three silent film adaptations of the novels of acclaimed authors George Eliot, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Mary Shelley, Louisa May Alcott, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Willa Cather, and Edith Wharton. Many of the films are unknown or dismissed, and most of them are degraded, destroyed, or lost—burned in warehouse fires, spontaneously combusted in storage cans, or quietly turned to dust. Their content and production and distribution details are reconstructed through archival resources as individual narratives that, when considered collectively, constitute a broader narrative of lost knowledge—a fragmented and buried early twentieth-century story now reclaimed and retold for the first time to a twenty-first-century audience. This collective narrative also demonstrates the extent to which the adaptations are intertextually and ideologically entangled with concurrently released early “woman’s films” to re-promote and re-instill the norm of idealized white, married, domesticated womanhood during a time of extraordinary cultural change for women. Retelling this lost narrative also allows for a reassessment of the place and function of the adaptations in the development of the silent film industry and as cinematic precedent for the hundreds of sound adaptations of the literary texts of these eight women writers produced from 1931 to the 2020s.
Comic Relief bosses have made a spoof of Hollywood film Wuthering Heights which will air on Friday night (March 19) [sic] as part of the charity fundraiserA spoof version of Wuthering Heights has been made for Comic Relief.TV favourites Katherine Ryan and Jon Richardson play iconic characters Cathy and Heathcliff in a wacky sketch dubbed Withering Heights. It is a parody of Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi's saucy Wuthering Heights adaptation.A BBC spokesperson said: “The cultural phenomenon gets the Red Nose Day treatment as Katherine Ryan and Jon Richardson’s audition tapes for Wuthering Heights are set to be uncovered."Have you ever wondered who else may have auditioned for the leading roles in smash-hit film Wuthering Heights? Or rather, why Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi ended up in the role?"Fret no more, as this Red Nose Day we are set to get a sneak peek at the exclusive audition tapes as Katherine Ryan takes on the role of Cathy, and Jon Richardson gives it his best Heathcliff, in ‘Withering Heights’.”It will air as part of Comic Relief: Funny for Money, which kicks off tomorrow at 7pm on BBC One. (Ed Gleave)
However, the film has renewed discussions about the book that has inspired several adaptations across the world, including Bollywood.For Aathira Suresh, a physics student and film buff, the latest film by director Emerald Fennell may be imperfect, but has spurred conversations about the many shades of Brontë’s characters.“I read ‘Wuthering Heights’ a year ago. I can vividly remember the descriptions,” she says.“At a time when characters were usually black and white, stories were about good and bad, she offered something raw. That people could be grey, love is not always pure. And though many nowadays call it a romance, it was actually about obsession and revenge, the often unexplored side of love. Brontë showed how wounded pride and obsession can destroy lives.”Notably, Brontë wrote at a time when women were often treated as little more than possessions. Within the haunting, windswept moorland setting, she also explored themes that resonate with feminist thought, Aathira believes.Cathy herself is an unlikeable character, full of human flaws and feelings. She is not the typical heroine of the time, someone striving to carve a place in society or seeking goodness in humanity. Instead, she is as imperfect as any other human.“Selfish, in love, and brimming with desire. Well, both were obsessed, weren’t they?” Aathira smiles.The story unfolds non-linearly and follows two families through the eyes of two outsiders: Ellen “Nelly” Dean and Mr Lockwood. They are unreliable narrators. One is a long-serving housekeeper who witnessed the lives of both families, the Earnshaws of Wuthering Heights and the Lintons of Thrushcross Grange. The other is a new tenant renting one of the houses.“This narrative approach makes the story intriguing. Readers do not see much direct interaction between Cathy and Heathcliff. That makes it all the more interesting,” says Archana Gopakumar, founder of The Reading Room in Thiruvananthapuram.The often-projected image of the gentry is also questioned here. Nelly, the housekeeper, becomes the one narrating their turbulent lives.“However, beyond a study of characters, their motivations and their breaking moments, ‘Wuthering Heights’ is an atmospheric horror,” Archana says.“Brontë describes everything — the environment, the moor, the dogs (I love them!), the supernatural, the candlelit dark rooms and the dark corners of the two castle-like homes. That itself makes this book a beautiful read about a ‘beautiful’ disaster.”The tragedy that hangs over every page unfolds slowly. The art of smothering one so seductively is what has made her pick up the book no fewer than three times.“And it’s witty when you don’t expect it. The satire shines through when the families interact, while the horror unfolds through a toxic love story,” she smiles.In today’s language, it would be called a “red flag” relationship. It is a story about “two people we pray never get together”. [...]“It is an unapologetic, raw, wild story that examines patriarchy without any reservation,” says Archana.This is perhaps what keeps the novel relevant even today. Tania Mary Vivera, associate professor of English literature at St Teresa’s College, believes the book’s enduring relevance is reflected in the many adaptations it has inspired.She highlights another important aspect: Heathcliff’s origins. “He is a foundling whose identity cannot be fully established. He has been portrayed variously as white, wheatish and black in different film versions, none of which satisfied audiences,” she points out.“Heathcliff is a mixed-race foundling, and that gave him freedom from the shackles of social identity, family name and regional identity. However, above all, it adds to him being misunderstood and mistrusted by everyone.”Though tragedy lingers, Tania adds, the book ends on a hopeful note. It brings to closure the long line of generational abuse and trauma, and the progression of lonely, isolated, orphaned individuals whose lives toggled between intense love and extreme hatred.She hopes future readers and the current generation — who will “undoubtedly” fall under the Gothic spell woven by Brontë — will carry that hope after they turn the last page. (Krishna P S)
I’m certainly not saying that Wuthering Heights was a good adaptation; it's one thing to change it up by adding something new and another to completely miss the point. When the book was released in 1847, it was also seen as grotesque, given the unchecked passion and brutality seen in the various toxic relationships between characters. However, Brontë uses the central toxic relationship as a tool to demonstrate the violence of class and racial hierarchies disguised by social norms. That social critique is not evident in Fennel’s adaptation, the recent State News review of the film says, “the only theme seeming to emerge is that ‘being ravenous is good."Despite this, there are a lot of people who groan at Hollywood for putting out remakes and adaptations, complaining about a lack of originality. In reality, a completely original, never-told-before plotline is hard to come by. Even if you start from scratch, it will start looking like a story someone’s already come up with pretty quickly. Think of how many times the story of star-crossed lovers has been told, and Shakespeare wasn’t even the first. But therein lies the solution to the stagnating story market: unfaithful adaptations.The beauty of the unfaithful adaptation is that it can draw audiences in with familiar characters or the basic outline of a story, but by changing something like the framing, environment, or medium, it can create something unique and fresh in so many ways. (Isabella Cucchetti)
Like many other women, I recently partook in the fanfare of seeing Wuthering Heights in theaters. If you prefer to keep your romance movies and global politics separate, you may want to stop reading now. The film’s central romance is notably similar to the US’ current diplomatic relationships. (Christina Sterbenz)
If I want Hollywood romance, I’ll watch William Wyler’s 1939 version of Wuthering Heights, with cinematographer Greg Toland demonstrating how the look of a movie deepens its emotional sweep and Laurence Olivier epitomizing what Americans want in a brooding Brit. If I want Yorkshire grit, I’ll watch Andrea Arnold’s muddy 2011 adaptation, which wrings the otherworldly elements from Brontë to offer a grubby glimpse of small-minded rural life. And if I want Wuthering Heights, I’ll just read the book. (Keith Harris)
Opposed to BRAT's focus on dance and club music, Wuthering Heights is a dizzying array of sprawling orchestral strings and heartfelt melodies, carrying with it a profound understanding of Brontë's prose. The theme of finding oneself through romantic and platonic connections is channeled through Charli, as it was with Cathy in the 1847 literary classic. Much of this search for identity correlates with the pop star's real-life experiences, marrying her longtime partner George Daniel (of The 1975) in July 2025. This milestone, in turn, is indicative of the project's greater contemplative qualities. Where BRAT felt like escapism, Wuthering Heights feels like facing one's emotions head-on. While a massive departure from her 2024 smash hit, Wuthering Heights is Charli at her most emotional and experimental – truly an engaging middle ground for the literary truthers and film defenders. (Nathaniel Clark)
Theatr Gymunedol Aberystwyth Community Theatre presentsby Lucy Gough. Based on Anne Brontë's novelAberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth University, Penglais Campus, Aberystwyth SY23 3DE, UKFri 20 Mar - Sat 21 MarWho is the mystery woman that recently moved into Wildfell Hall? The Hall is isolated and semi-derelict. She is an artist and a single woman with a child; both frowned upon in 19th-century society. As the mystery unfolds, a life of struggle and courage is revealed. This is a story of resilience, survival, and an uncompromising need for truth and creativity. The play is framed by Anne Brontë’s reasons for writing this powerful, starkly honest, early feminist novel.
Commenting on the novel, Aberystwyth writer and director, Lucy Gough said: “Anne Brontë wrote a brilliant novel and I have worked with Aberystwyth Arts Centre Community Theatre to bring this to life on stage.“It has been an exciting journey, from novel, to script and now stage. I hope people new to the novel will be stimulated to read and enjoy it and those who know it find the play opens up fresh ways of understanding it.”This is the second time that Lucy’s love of ‘The Tenant of Wildfell Hall’ has resulted in a new production.In 2024, loosely inspired by Brontë’s ‘The Tenant of Wildfell Hall’, Lucy’s then new play called, ‘The Wild Tenant’ explored the complexity of a relationship overwhelmed by someone with addiction. (Julie McNicholls Vale)
The Brontë Birthplace in Thornton has been awarded £1,271.92 through a grant from the 2024/2025 Lord Mayor’s Appeal, headed by the then Lord Mayor of Bradford, Councillor Bev Mullaney.The funding comes from a series of fundraising events and donations.Nigel West, fundraising co-ordinator for the Brontë Birthplace, said: "We are entirely self-funded and depend on grants such as the Lord Mayor’s Appeal to help continue our work."We are so grateful for this donation, it will help us to keep the Brontë story alive and ensure it remains an inspiring and welcoming space for generations to come." (Harry Williams)
St Oswald’s Church is one of Guiseley’s key historic buildings, known not only for its medieval fabric but also because the parents of the Brontë sisters, Patrick Brontë and Maria Branwell, were married there in 1812.A copy of their marriage certificate is displayed inside. (Claire Lomax)
The more modern “madwoman in the attic” trope emerged in the novels of the early 1800s. In fact, this expression itself alludes to Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 novel Jane Eyre, in which Mr. Rochester’s first wife, Bertha Mason, is kept secretly locked away in the attic of his home, Thornfield Hall, having long ago lost her mind.Inspired by Brontë, the literary critics and feminist writers Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar famously used Madwoman in the Attic as the title of their landmark 1979 work, which explored the portrayal of women in Victorian literature. Authors like Charlotte Brontë—as well as her sister Emily, Jane Austen, and Mary Shelley, the pair argued—typically featured women in their novels that were either idealized ingenues or grotesque monsters, a dichotomy that naturally emerged in response to the distorted literary landscape (long shaped by male writers) into which their work was being taken.Given the understanding of mental illness at the time in the 1800s, consequently, having a female character who had lost her mind was an easy way of providing a story with a dangerous and unpredictable “monster” character—the perfect antagonist for the ingenue heroine, and a literary creation with which the reader was unlikely to sympathize. Charlotte Brontë, for instance, portrays Bertha as little more than a monstrous threat, with little agency nor much in the way of an explanation for her madness, leaving the reader to sympathize with Mr. Rochester instead. (Paul Anthony Jones)
It is true that profound pity ought to be the only sentiment elicited by the view of such degradation, and equally true is it that I have not sufficiently dwelt on that feeling; I have erred in making horror too predominant. Mrs Rochester indeed lived a sinful life before she was insane but sin itself is a kind of insanity; the truly good behold and compassionate it as such.
Emerald Fennell’s new film, Wuthering Heights opens with sounds of moaning and heavy breathing, which are revealed to be emanating from a man being executed by hanging, rather than in the throes of sexual ecstasy. His post-mortem erection causes an outpouring of emotion, including sexual arousal, in the rambunctious crowd. Among the audience witnessing the bizarre spectacle is the young version of the heroine of the film, Catherine Earnshaw.As Fennell explained in an interview: “it was important to acknowledge early on that arousal and danger are kind of the same thing, and it was important that the first thing we see is Cathy, this young girl, seemingly frightened but then actually delighted. It tells us so much about who she is, but so much about Brontë, too…”Notably, this scene is not in Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel, but it is uniquely Fennell, and also ensures the film falls squarely into the genre of Gothic Romance. The Oxford-educated Fennell is additionally making an allusion to another novel of Gothic Romance, Daphne du Maurier’s My Cousin Rachel, which opens with the narrator looking back on a moment as a seven-year-old when he witnessed a man who had just been hung. “See what a moment of passion can bring upon a fellow,” his guardian tells him.The disturbing juxtaposition of sex and death lies at the core of Gothic Romance, and, indeed, Victorian society, as well as our own. In her article “Sex and Death in Wuthering Heights,” Maria Kosikinen observes that both sex and death were perceived as threats to rational Victorian attitudes and thus both were highly regulated and ritualized. Fennell makes her audience as complicit as the onlookers in the perverse opening scene, revealing and shocking our own 2026 sensibilities as well.Arguably, the most important aspect of Gothic Romance, and the Gothic more broadly, explains its lasting appeal, which can be summed up by the great (Gothic) writer, William Faulker: “The past isn’t dead. It isn’t even past.” [...]Say what you will about his character, but the only “ghosting” one can imagine Brontë’s Heathcliff doing is the literal kind, which perhaps explains his lasting appeal, even if the Byronic hero is still being blamed for today’s dating woes. In Olivia Petter’s excellent Vogue article from January, “My Love for Wuthering Heights Is Why I Also Love Terrible Men,” she blames Heathcliff, whom she deems “literature’s original fuckboy,” for inspiring her frustrating pursuit of toxic men: “The bar is absurdly low…men will get a round of applause for texting us back or booking a restaurant. Where are the ones who’ll cry for us on the moors and dig up our graves? They might not be healthy, but at least they’re interesting. [...]Fennell’s Wuthering Heights, like the lauded 1939 adaptation, does not feature the second half of the novel, which deals with the aftermath of Cathy and Heathcliff’s toxic love-story. It therefore delves more into the romance, rather than the Gothic aspects of the plot and the repercussions of the first on subsequent generations. Why only adapting the first half of Emily Brontë’s novel was permissible in 1939 but not now is anyone’s guess. [...]Love or hate it, any film that revives public discourse, notably among young people, around a Victorian novel written by a woman two hundred years ago can be seen as a win, especially in a time when Humanities and English departments are at all-time low enrollment.In Gothic fiction, repressed things from the past return to haunt us. In today’s world, amidst new technologies including AI, and a far-reaching digital record, the secrets in our individual and collective pasts have never been more ephemeral, and, paradoxically, more immortal. What could be more Gothic than that? (Joanna Margaret)
I find this all frustrating. Wuthering Heights on a filmic level — the acting, sets, and cinematography — is beautiful. But, much like the story reinterpretation, all the substance stays on the surface. Despite all the pent-up sexual tension, the greatest tease this movie was hinting at complexity. In reality, the beauty on the screen went no further. (Devin Hung)
Emily BrontëDel Fondo EditorialISBN 9789874886927March 2026Set in the West Yorkshire moors, Wuthering Heights is the story of two gentry families -— the Earnshaws and the Lintons — and their turbulent relationships with Earnshaw's adopted son, Heathcliff. Although Wuthering Heights is now a classic of English literature, contemporaneous reviews were deeply polarized; it was controversial because of its unusually stark depiction of mental and physical cruelty, and it challenged strict Victorian ideals regarding religious hypocrisy, morality, social classes, and gender inequality. The novel also explores the effects of envy, nostalgia, pessimism, and resentment. Published under her male pseudonym, critics were convinced that it was indeed written by a man, as the powerful imagery and unbridled and savage emotions and passions of the characters initially appalled critics. Emily died tragically before knowing the acclaim “his” only novel would eventually receive, now being considered one of the finest literary masterpieces of nineteenth century England.
Charlotte BrontëDel Fondo EditorialISBN: 9789874886910March 2026Initially published under the pseudonym Currer Bell in 1847, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre erupted onto the English literary scene, immediately showing the devotion of many of the world’s most renowned writers. Widely regarded as a revolutionary novel, Brontë’s masterpiece introduced the world to a radical new type of heroine, one whose defiant virtue and moral courage departed sharply from the more submissive and malleable female characters of the day. The immediate and lasting success of Jane Eyre proved Brontë's instincts right. Readers of her era and, even after her time, have taken the impoverished orphan girl into their hearts, following her from the custody of cruel relatives to a dangerously oppressive boarding school and onward through a troubled career as a governess. Jane's first assignment at Thornfield, where the proud and cynical master of the house guards a scandalous secret, draws readers even deeper into a compelling exploration of the mysteries of the human heart. Passionate, dramatic, and surprisingly modern, Jane Eyre is still regarded as one of the world’s most beloved novels.
7 The Professor (written 1846; published 1857) by Charlotte BrontëThis was the first novel that Charlotte Brontë completed. It was rejected by publishers nine times. Written in the voice of a male narrator, William Crimsworth, it offers a downbeat story of everyday middle-class striving as the protagonist travels to Brussels to establish his career as a teacher. But the last publisher to see it thought it showed promise, despite being too short and insufficiently “striking and exciting”. Had the author anything else to offer? Luckily, Jane Eyre – which amply supplied the earlier book’s deficiencies – was already in train and was soon accepted with alacrity. Although The Professor remained unpublished in Charlotte’s lifetime, she continued to believe that it was “as good as I can write”; its subtly ironised male voice reveals her underlying literary sophistication.6 Agnes Grey (1847) by Anne BrontëIn 1846, the three Brontë sisters had – at their own expense – published a joint poetry collection under the pseudonyms Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. It sold just two copies. Realising that fiction was more saleable, they decided that each should write a novel under the same pen names. While Charlotte toiled over The Professor, the youngest sister, Anne, was working on Agnes Grey. It also sought to portray everyday life, but the result has a more authentic ring since she drew so directly on her personal experience working as a governess in well-to-do families. The first-person heroine is initially excited at the thought of earning her own living. But she finds herself underpaid and unappreciated by the snooty parents, while her tantrum-prone charges include a vile little boy who likes pulling the legs off baby sparrows. Had it not been overshadowed by Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights when it came out in 1847, it might perhaps have caused more of a stir as a Nanny Diaries-style exposé.5 Shirley (1849) by Charlotte BrontëThis flawed follow-up to Jane Eyre was written under trying circumstances. Charlotte’s brother Branwell and both her sisters sickened and died in quick succession during the writing of it, so it was abandoned for a while before being resumed by the bereaved author. That’s not, however, the only reason why this “condition of England” novel – which announces itself on page one as “something unromantic as Monday morning” – has failed to entrance readers as much as its predecessor Jane Eyre. Its third-person narrative does not focus on a single hero or heroine and as a result the book feels comparatively diffuse, though Charlotte herself might have defended it on the grounds that real life is diffuse. Set during the Luddite riots of 1811-12, it explores social unrest, capitalism and the “woman question”. Because of her proto-feminism, Charlotte’s ideological position has often been called progressive, yet she was in fact a political conservative.4 The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë (1848)In feminist terms, Anne’s second novel is the most radical and socially engaged of all the sisters’ books. The eponymous tenant, Helen Huntingdon, is hiding out at Wildfell Hall with her young son after leaving her abusive husband. At the time, unequal marriage laws meant that it was very hard for a woman to get a divorce at all and nigh impossible for her to get custody of her children. In Jane Eyre, Charlotte had made Mr Rochester a sexy Byronic rake; Anne, in reply, exposed the toxic masculinity behind that character type. Despite the novel’s strong Christian message, its unvarnished portrayal of addiction and adultery shocked Victorian readers more than any of the other Brontë books. More interested in the real than the ideal, Anne was drawing on her experience as a witness to Branwell’s chaotic behaviour.3 Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (1847)The first of the Brontë novels to be published, Charlotte’s melodramatic tale of the poor plain governess and the madwoman in the attic became a bestseller on first publication. Its genius, in fact, lies less in the plot than in what George Eliot’s future partner GH Lewes, who was one of its first reviewers, called its “strange power of subjective representation”. Ditching the distancing device of a male narrator for a female voice proved Charlotte’s creative breakthrough: it enabled her to inject a then unprecedented first-person intensity into the novel form. However, Jane Eyre proved controversial at the time among sexist critics. Correctly surmising that the author behind “Currer Bell” was a woman, they decried the book as “coarse” and the heroine as too assertive for a female.2 Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (1847)It is mind-boggling to think that Wuthering Heights was written alongside The Professor and Agnes Grey, quite literally on the same dining room table in Haworth Parsonage at which all three sisters sat together working on their first novels. Emily’s masterpiece was called “a strange book baffling all regular criticism” on publication; it remains enigmatic, completely sui-generis and totally outside the norms of Victorian fiction. Justly regarded as one of the greatest works in the western canon, it’s far from the cliched love story it later became in popular culture. Though grisly with violence, it’s oddly devoid of sex. The writing is astonishing: scarcely any adjectives and not a purple passage in sight. The Victorian poet Swinburne was right to compare it to Greek tragedy.1 Villette by Charlotte Brontë (1853)Less famous than Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights, Villette is Charlotte Brontë’s masterpiece and deserves to be better known. Here, she goes back to the Brussels material that she had already used at a tangent in The Professor – and which was rooted in her real-life experience of studying and teaching there in 1842-4. Reworking those memories from a first-person female perspective, she now incorporated her own secret into the story: the unrequited love she had felt for her Belgian writing tutor Constantin Heger. Yet the result is anything but naïve autobiography. Instead, it shows Charlotte push the classic realist Victorian novel in new, artistically experimental directions. The unreliable narrator, Lucy Snowe, has intimacy issues and sets a challenge for the reader. Long before Freud, Charlotte was exploring questions about repression and the unconscious in a complex, self-knowing psychological novel whose generic status hovers ambiguously between naturalism, gothic and autofiction. The extent to which Villette mined and refracted her own inner life was only discovered posthumously by her biographers.
Modern artists like Manet, who portrayed purely modern scenes without conforming to the “grain,” provoked viewership fury. French critic of the time, Émile Zola, argued in an essay titled “Édouard Manet”, originally published in 1867, that public outrage simply reveals how tightly audiences cling to expectations of what art ought to resemble. The public, up until this point, had maintained neoclassical values in art: to flatter, narrate, and moralize. Manet refused all three of those familiar imperatives by producing art that felt uncomfortable and bluntly new — a choice that is now heavily applauded. True art, a point Zola returns to time and time again, does not come from a desire to conform to norms or follow the “grain” but from individual temperament and personal vision.Nearly two centuries later and across the Atlantic, my girlfriends and I visited the Cineplex on Rue Sainte Catherine to watch Emerald Fennell’s 2026 “Galentines” adaptation of “Wuthering Heights”. The reaction to the film was generally varied. Some praised it, while lovers of the novel jumped to Twitter and Reddit to vent their anger over yet another inaccurate adaptation. To give credit to these bibliophiles, Fennell abandons many of the themes that make this story so impactful by portraying a narrative based on her initial impression of the book as a 14-year-old girl. In depicting this youthful interpretation, Fennell centres the film around a glorified toxic romance between Catherine and Heathcliff. Frustrated viewers were appalled at Fennell’s tone-deafness in foregrounding obsessive love while sidestepping and softening the harsher themes of the novel, particularly those pertaining to Heathcliff’s racial marginalization and the systemic class violence in the setting.In reading tweets alleging the film’s negligence, just as I did in December when choosing my winter semester electives, I turned to modern art history. Two hundred years apart, both Manet and Fennell have something in common: they’ve both committed to their personal visions and rejected traditional expectations. Manet counters aesthetic norms and produces art that depicts the tensions of modern life in a way that is truthful to himself. Similarly, Fennell abandons the expectation that adaptations be reflective of their source material to create a film rooted in her own experience, a decision Zola might have applauded. Whether or not you enjoy or even “agree with” either of these artist’s work, they both made the choice to commit to their personal truths and abandon external expectations. In practicing artistic autonomy, they choose their own temperament as an anchor in their work.If these two artists are correct and individual temperament is the “True North” of art, it leads us to question: are there traditions or expectations that artists must uphold, or is personal vision all that truly matters? Between these contexts, “tradition” is understood very differently. For Manet, “traditions” are expectations set by the Art Academy surrounding what defines academically valid (and objectively good) art. For Fennell, “tradition” underlines the source material from which she draws her film: Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. Both these artists abandon tradition in their works, making audiences question: where is the line drawn between artistic autonomy and deviations from tradition?In deviating from tradition, one can question the difference between innovation and avoidance.If artists do have a responsibility to uphold a certain tradition, both Manet and Fennell have failed to do so. Yet we celebrate Manet as a transformative turning point in modern art history. Why? In my opinion, it is because Manet’s work denies the comfort of ignorance and bluntly presents his audiences with uncomfortable social realities, forcing them to analyze their own lives through his work. In contrast, Fennell’s Wuthering Heights does exactly the opposite. While she also deviates from “tradition”, she does so by refusing to inherit the uncomfortable and darker themes of the novel. She allows her audiences to find comfort in the avoidance of difficult themes surrounding the intersection of violence, race, and class. If Manet makes audiences question how closely art should adhere to academic standards, Fennell forces them to question how much personal vision we are willing to accept in interpretations of classic narratives.In some cases, we respond well to moving away from tradition when artists depict their personal visions because it feels honest and revealing, confronting you with art rooted in social reality. This is what Manet did in pulling at the seams of academic art to reveal true modern life. On the other side of the coin, moving away from tradition can feel dishonest if viewers don’t feel it is rooted in these social truths — the very social truths that made Emily Brontë’s novel so impactful in the first place.Now, as I wrap up this article in my student apartment a few streets from campus, I have to conclude that this argument is somewhat of an open-ended question. I think that is because there is no universal line that separates avoidance from innovation in art. That line is unstable by design, and artists have always toed it by pushing their own personal vision forward while balancing a respect for tradition. Perhaps this tension is what produces great art. That being said, in my art history class, we are still marveling at Manet’s impact on the evolution of modern art two centuries later. But as I left the Cineplex on Sainte Catherine after seeing Fennell’s Wuthering Heights, I got the impression that this particular adaptation might not make it onto the syllabus of a film class in another two hundred years. (Lyla Burt)
Contemporary psychology doesn’t view their relationships as “tragic lovers divided by social class and circumstance.” Instead, people agree that this story is about two deeply wounded people who cannot escape each other’s influence.Behind the perfect visuals and stunning costumes, it’s still possible to get the idea that this movie is a “psychological horror,” as often described on Reddit. Catherine, Heathcliff, and nearly every supporting character become trapped in a cycle of resentment and revenge.
Wuthering HeightsWe went to see Wuthering Heights within the last two weeks, and we totally loved it. I know that a lot of people felt really mixed about it, but we loved it, and so I took the opportunity to see if she might be into listening to Jane Eyre on Audible. I thought she might want to hear what another Brontë sister was writing, but I got sort of a mixed reply on it. We listened to her for a little bit, but I’m still trying. (Padma Lakshmi as told to Marah Eakin)
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Talking ScaredThis Valentine’s week, come for a walk up on t’moors with me and Agatha Andrews.I’ve invited Agatha, my friend and sister-in-Gothic, host of She Wore Black podcast, for a conversation about Wuthering Heights.It’s known as “the greatest love story ever told,” but that’s such nonsense. Instead we talk about mania and melancholy, hate and power, cannibalismand necrophilia… and we also look ahead to the Hollywood adaptation with bated (but amused) breath.Enjoy!Other books mentioned:David Copperfield (1850), by Charles DickensThe Brontës (1994), by Juliet BarkerThe Gabriel Hounds (1964), by Mary StewartEast of Eden (1952), by John SteinbeckThe Vampyre (1819), by John PolidoriThe Favourites (2025), by Layne Fargo
“She wasn’t a fan of Austen,” Dr Stewart said.Charlotte once told critic G.H. Lewes she’d never read Austen (despite her very literary childhood). And after he urged her to give the books a try, she said in correspondence:“Why do you like Miss Austen so very much? I am puzzled on that point… I had not seen ‘Pride & Prejudice’ till I read that sentence of yours, and then I got the book and studied it. And what did I find? An accurate daguerreotyped portrait of a common-place face; a carefully-fenced, highly cultivated garden with neat borders and delicate flowers – but no glance of a bright vivid physiognomy – no open country – no fresh air – no blue hill – no bonny beck. I should hardly like to live with her ladies and gentlemen in their elegant but confined houses.”This, Dr Stewart said, might be called “damning with faint praise”. [...]Basically, her greatest compliment to the author appeared to be something along the lines of, “cool story, Austen!! Now imagine if it had literally any heart, soul, or vim whatsoever...”Why didn’t Charlotte Brontë seem to like Jane Austen?We’ll never truly know, but it’s highly possible the more restrained author just didn’t float Charlotte’s boat.And Austen isn’t the only victim of Charlotte’s sharp tongue, either.“She liked Dickens even less. She disliked his ‘ostentatious extravagance,’” Dr Stewart told us.But it’s hard not to wonder if the writer, who was one when Austen died, was sick of unfair comparisons to the literary titan.“I don’t think there are any meaningful comparisons between the work of the Brontës and Austen. In many ways, they are exact opposites. Although Anne’s Agnes Grey was called a ‘coarse imitation of one of Miss Austin’s [sic] charming stories,’” Dr Stewart explained.To that point, he noted that “Emily and Anne [Brontë] were no fans of Austen either”. (Amy Glover)
Haworth, West YorkshireGrowing up in Yorkshire, I was never far from an idyllic village. One of my favourites has to be Haworth, in the moorlands of the Pennines.While it might be small, it has some world-class literary credentials — it’s where the Brontë sisters (Charlotte, Emily, and Anne) wrote their iconic novels, including Wuthering Heights.Head to the Brontë Parsonage Museum, the Grade I listed Georgian building, formerly the home of the sisters which has been preserved to offer a glimpse of their life from 1820 to 1861 — entry is £13.Brontë fans should also take a country walk to Top Withens, a ruined farmhouse near Haworth, believed to have inspired Wuthering Heights.And to continue your Victorian education, take a trip on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, a five-mile heritage steam train that runs through the village.Finally, if a day of sightseeing has tired you out, stop for a classic pub lunch.My favourite is Haworth Old Hall, a cosy inn set in a 16th-century manor house. Try the Whitby Scampi (£14.79) and a pint of local ale for the ultimate Yorkshire experience. (Sophie-May Williams)
1. Cathy and Heathcliff, Wuthering Heights (2026)Is there anything more toxic (or dramatic) than ghosting your childhood best friend for five years when she chooses another man? Emily Brontë proved that toxic relationships have been around since the dawn of time with her writing of Cathy and Heathcliff, and Fennell's take shows us just how self-destructive a love like this can be... No thanks. (Kirsty Thatcher)
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d'après le roman et la vie d'Emily Brontëmise en scène Maëlle DequiedtComédie de Colmar. Grande salleTuesday 17.03. 14h15Tuesday 17.03. 19hWednesday 18.03. 20hRoman noir et scandaleux, sur fond de landes sauvages du Yorkshire, Les Hauts de Hurlevent d’Emily Brontë plonge dans les tréfonds de la nature humaine. Maëlle Dequiedt explore très librement ce monument de la littérature anglaise, dans un spectacle impressionniste et musical.En complicité avec la compositrice et performeuse Nadia Ratsimandresy, la metteuse en scène libère toute la puissance de ce texte tempétueux, d’une force tellurique, brute, immorale. Devenu mythique, Les Hauts de Hurlevent reste l’unique roman d’une écrivaine morte à trente ans. Maëlle Dequiedt, artiste associée à la Comédie de Colmar, s’approprie l’histoire tourmentée de Catherine et Heathcliff pour en proposer une version très personnelle, iconoclaste, faite de sensations et d’images fulgurantes, autour des thèmes du roman : la famille, la violence, l’enfermement, le mal. La langue brûlante d’Emily Brontë devient matière poétique et sonore, en anglais et en français, tandis que les fantômes qui habitent l’histoire prennent vie à travers les corps de quatre comédien·nes. La musique, jouée en live aux ondes Martenot — instrument précurseur de l’électro —, suggère puissamment la lande battue par le vent et la pluie, autant que les émotions qui ravagent les personnages. Un voyage sans retour au cœur d’une œuvre obsédante.
Always wanted to step right into Heathcliff and Cathy’s sort-of-love story? Clearly, you’re not alone.Since it was released on February 13 one thing Emerald Fennel’s somewhat controversial adaptation of ‘Wuthering Heights’ has done is show just how beautiful Yorkshire can be. As a result, Haworth, a tiny hilltop village in God’s Own County, has been swept up in ‘Brontëmania’. Local businesses and guides have apparently reported a major uptake in bookings since the film’s release. (...)If you’re hoping to make your own Brontëmania trip, the nearest local station is Keighley in Yorkshire – which is on the East Coast Main Line and a direct LNER train away from London, Leeds, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh.Once you’ve made it to Keighley, Haworth is less than an hour ride away on the Brontëbus – yes that’s really what it's called. For only three quid, the bus takes you past iconic Brontë locations (as well as where The Railway Children was filmed). (Anna Mahtani)
Wuthering Heights still remains in the top ten of the Fiction Paperback Sunday Times Bestsellers List. It's number 9.
Emerald Fennell’s sexed-up take on Emily Brontë’s gothic romance feels empty. (...)Maybe Fennell’s Wuthering Heights was, like its protagonists, doomed from the start. If nothing else, watching it has made me wonder why our culture is so invested in this gothic tale as a paragon of romantic longing. Brontë’s novel is about two people whose love, cankered by misunderstanding, narcissism, and a soupçon of undiagnosed mental illness, devolves into a rage that destroys them and their estates; the traditional love plot it is not. Fennell is not particularly interested in exploring that material, but she also doesn’t have enough grasp of the power and promise of romance to produce the film it seems she wanted to make. She missed the essence of Charli XCX’s repetitive call to “fall in love again and again” in “Everything is romantic,” the track used to mesmerizing, vibes-enhancing effect in the film’s early trailer.She missed the romance, missed why, with the right book or film, we crave letting ourselves fall in love over and over and over. (Eric Newman)
Because the novel itself was not polite Victorian entertainment. It was wild, obsessive, and deeply strange. Catherine and Heathcliff behave like forces of nature, not characters designed to teach moral lessons. In that sense, the chaotic energy of “Wuthering Heights” feels strangely appropriate.The internet may continue to argue about casting, costumes, accents, and Charli XCX. The discourse will probably last months. But inside a cinema, away from social media commentary, the film reveals itself as something much simpler.Not a sacred text.Just a loud, messy, visually striking movie that is actually pretty fun to watch. (Katarina Doric)
If you’re a purist looking for a faithful adaptation of Catherine and Heathcliff’s destructive, often sadistic but seemingly chaste and tragic love story, you’re going to be pissed. Fennell’s screen adaptation pointedly puts “Wuthering Heights” in quotation marks for multiple reasons. (...)As someone who reread the book immediately before watching the recent adaptation, the film left a lot to be desired.In Brontë’s book, just about everyone is kind of awful. A number of her characters, especially Heathcliff, are selfish, vengeful and violent and there is a supernatural element that looms over it all in a way that is fascinating and thoroughly unsettling.In Fennell’s film adaptation, Heathcliff in particular is highly sanitised. (Martha Mukaiwa)
If this isn't up your alley, the good news is that there are five books out there that have successfully reimagined "Wuthering Heights". "Here on Earth" by Alice Hoffman will satisfy any gothic romance craving. "What Souls Are Made Of" by Tasha Suri, part of the Remixed Classics series, reimagines "Wuthering Heights" through an Indian lens. For a fantasy twist, readers can enjoy "Ruthless Devotion" by Rebecca Kenney. In "For No Mortal Creature" by Keshe Chow, Brontë's classic is retold through a world of dark romance and Chinese superstitions. "The Favorites" by Layne Fargo portrays Cathy and Heathcliff's turbulent relationship through professional ice skaters competing at the Winter Olympics in the 21st century. Whatever you're craving, these books are guaranteed to fix the Brontë blues. (Danielle Summer)
Ver a Heathcliff proclamar que "no puede vivir sin su vida y no puede vivir sin su alma" mientras luce un perfil donde hay músculos que ni siquiera sabía que existían genera un cortocircuito en las generaciones de ahora. (...)Teniendo clarísimo que la película es bastante mala y una versión muy libre del libro, tenía muchas ganas de ver qué sucedía en la sala de cine y cuál era la reacción de quienes acuden a ver la película. La realidad ha superado mis expectativas. La directora no ha rodado un drama gótico, ha filmado un deseo colectivo en un mundo de ghosting y frialdad digital; ver a un semidiós moderno sufrir por amor nos parece la más envidiable de las fantasías que puede que ninguna confesara jamás. (Belén Unzurrunzaga) (Translation)
Fennell leans all the way in. The film is decadent and drenched in color. Cathy’s beautiful, vivid ballgowns stand out against the Longley mansion’s abundance and excess, and even the walls of her bedroom, painted almost exactly the color of her own skin, down to the nerves, create an unsettling intimacy.It’s visually rich – almost indulgent – yet always heavy with doom.Costume design deserves serious praise. Robbie stuns in exquisite period dresses and deep red frocks that mirror Cathy’s emotional turbulence. The opulence never feels accidental – it amplifies her mood swings.Alison Oliver’s Isabella adds an unexpected edge. She brings comic timing to a character who is, at her core, deeply insecure and slightly twisted. Watching her willingly allow herself to be degraded by Heathcliff is uncomfortable. She is vulnerable, desperate for love and craving control in the only way she thinks she can claim it. It’s disturbing, but compelling. (Anjola Fashawe)
En conclusión, un producto entretenido y de alta calidad, pero que ha sido relegado de la esencia original de la obra a una simple historia de pasión, que dentro de unos años nadie recordará. Sin embargo, la novela de Emily Brontë seguirá perdurando como clásico de la literatura universal por su complejidad emocional y social. (Mercè Homar Mas) (Translation)
De algo parecido adolece Cumbres borrascosas según nos la intentan empotrar en esta última adaptación al cine. Sin duda Jacob Elordi y Margot Robbie son dos de las personas más agraciadas que se hayan puesto jamás delante de una cámara. Derrochan fotogenia. Lo que no derrochan, por desgracia, es ninguna química. Encerrados los dos en las respectivas burbujas de una fría estética narcisista, la cámara tiene que hacer milagros para arrancar algún destello aislado de morbo que a lo mejor funciona en un vídeo cortito de TikTok, para la promoción y tal y tal. Pero luego vas al cine y la película vista del tirón se te hace larga y tediosa. Quien busque las emociones fuertes que el marketing promete, las encontrará antes en un cruce de miradas entre Humphrey Bogart e Ingrid Bergman en Casablanca, que en el señor Elordi tirándole del corsé a la señora Robbie. (Anna Grau) (Translation)
Cumbres Borrascosas (2026) es una película fallida con momentos de belleza real, pero entre la megalomanía estética y la superficialidad emocional termina siendo una linda y tóxica forma de romantizar la dependencia sin el valor de explorar por qué eso duele. (Luis Zúñiga) (Translation)
Where “Wuthering Heights” ultimately fails is her inability to replace the core themes and messaging in Brontë’s novel, which she stripped away with material that makes for a new, provocative, and unique interpretation.Rather, Fennell did not care for the character’s interior and exterior lives, only wishing to “smuttify” a beloved literary classic in the hopes that audiences would be satisfied with watching two beautiful people get steamy in beautiful backdrops. (Marissa Chin)
Raio Ángulo (Cuba) reviews the new(?) film, but clearly, they have not seen it. The author of these new articles in Her Campus and El Generacional, at least, did. The RNE podcast, Tres en la carretera also reviews the film. Die Welt (Germany) explores the GenZ reactions to the novel or the movie.
Movie-Locations fittingly explores Wuthering Heights 2026's locations. The Telegraph & Argus lists a top ten of tourist attractions around Bradford, including the Parsonage, of course.
In Emerald Fennell’s rendering of Wuthering Heights, Latif plays Edgar Linton, the well-to-do textiles merchant who marries the story’s protagonist, Cathy, played by Margot Robbie. Traditionally, Linton is a dull, sensible foil to Cathy’s true love, Heathcliff, butFennell and Latif had other ideas for their version of the character.“We wanted to make him less of the pathetic guy he comes across as in the book,” he says, “and more of a real rival to Heathcliff.” Linton’s visceral devotion to his new bride is apparent when Cathy arrives at his dreamlike manor house, where one bedroom wall is decorated, complete with veins and moles, to mimic her own skin. (...)One of the numerous controversies surrounding Fennell’s Wuthering Heights is an accusation of whitewashing. In Brontë’s novel, Heathcliff is described as a Lascar, a term for a sailor from India or south-east Asia; the casting of Elordi, a white man, in the role has raised eyebrows in corners of the internet. When I bring it up, he says, “If anything, it shouldn’t be on me, or any person of colour, to comment on this. It’s one for the industry. What is cool, to me, is being able to play these roles. We’re adding colour back into period dramas becausewe’ve always been there.” Understandably, he would rather focus on the ease with which his own heritage was woven into the narrative.“We were able to flesh out this backstory, which included the Linton family being from South Asia and adopting Isabella, who is white, as a ward. It adds another dimension to the story.” (Michaela Makusha)
In Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights, Clunes is the one dishing out the floggings, in a bravura performance as Cathy’s dissolute father. He looked like he was having enormous fun, with his mouthful of terrible teeth, and also on the red carpet, where he was the one person grinning alongside Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi and Charli XCX. “I loved it, loved it,” he says. “My wife trod on Charli’s dress at the premiere, but it didn’t rip.” (...)When Clunes was working on Wuthering Heights, Fennell told him the audience needed to like Mr Earnshaw, even though he was cruel. (Melissa Denes)
Melissa Dumpleton: The first book you ever remember reading:L.S.: There’s no way this won’t sound ridiculously pretentious, but I think it was Jane Eyre, when I was around six. I was staying at my grandparents’ apartment that summer, and it was one of the few books on my grandfather’s bookshelf that wasn’t about engineering. All I remember is having recurring nightmares about the scary lady who lived in the attic.
“It was only while re-reading this book a few years ago that I realised this wasn’t just the coming-of-age story I’d always assumed it to be. First published under the pen name of Currer Bell in 1847, Jane Eyre is also a masterclass in psychological suspense with all the hallmarks of the genre: the first-person narrator with a dark past, the creepy old house, the strange noises and goings-on in the dead of night, the twists and turns, the lies, deceit, and fear.“When Jane arrives at Thornfield Hall to be a governess, she soon picks up that there is something strange about both the mansion, with its rambling corridors and forbidden spaces, and its elusive master, Mr Rochester. Is the house haunted? And what is the secret in the attic?” (Anna Bonet)
Mae's Food Blog reviews Jane Eyre.
